A new way to quantify and improve consumer trust by leveraging the latest innovations in artificial intelligence (AI) is being pioneered by EQ Bank, the digital platform of Equitable Bank, Canada’s Challenger Bank™ and seventh largest bank by assets.
EQ Bank receives thousands of feedback comments from customers, and extracting insights on how to improve digital customer experience was previously manual and time consuming.
Adoreboard, the leading AI platform that aims to build trust for better customer retention, is being deployed to remove manual analysis and instantly predict what areas to focus on that will lead to the greatest improvement in customer trust.
The platform uses AI to automatically detect the intensity of emotion expressed in each text comment to quantify drivers of trust. Developed by data scientists at Adoreboard, a spin-out of Queen’s University, the Trust Metric serves as a barometer for understanding trust by quantifying levels of emotional intensity in customer feedback. Between May 2023 and May 2024, EQ Bank saw their Trust Metric score increase by 8% in its bi-annual customer survey.
By measuring digital experiences ranging from onboarding experience to mobile satisfaction, EQ Bank has been able to predict the impact of resolving key issues on its Net Promoter Score (NPS) across different feedback touchpoints. NPS helps companies understand customer loyalty and satisfaction based on their likelihood to recommend its product or service to others. By taking action to resolve customer concerns, EQ Bank increased its NPS score by 5% since October 2023.
“EQ Bank is a customer-obsessed organization, so partnering with Adoreboard to bring our customers’ insights more readily to the forefront was a natural choice,” said Cathy Ly, VP marketing, EQ Bank.
“Verbatim comments left by customers are a critical way to build challenger banking products that drive trust and satisfaction. With Adoreboard, we’re now able to hear what our customers are saying more intimately and faster than ever, while also translating these findings into discernible business results.”
EQ Bank’s focus on measuring and improving customer trust is matched by a rising consumer expectation of better digital experiences when it comes to finances.
It comes as a new survey finds that 60% of Canadians expect to use their smartphones to increase the number of purchases in the coming year.
With an increase in mobile payments, unsurprisingly, 65% of Canadians would consider switching banks if they received a poor digital experience.
And it’s not just confined to mobile or digital banking — changing consumer attitudes on financial literacy show that 52% of Canadians would be happy to use AI to help improve how they manage personal finances, including spending.
Chris Johnston, Chief Executive of Adoreboard, said that EQ Bank is a real pioneer within Canadian banking and an innovator across the financial services sector by adopting AI as part of their Voice of Customer programme.
“We are supporting EQ Bank to unlock new insights by identifying their next best action. The result is an upgraded digital experience for customers and a tangible business impact in terms of customer increased trust and retention.”
Adoreboard, a Gartner Cool Vendor in Customer Analytics using Artificial Intelligence, is used by some of the world’s most well-known brands including Procter and Gamble, Allstate and Amazon.
NOTES TO EDITOR
Context
- Trust Metric is based on a calculation of emotional intensity of drivers in 8 emotional indexes ranging from Joy to Anger.
- Predicted Improvements based on average of results of 6 EQ Bank customer surveys carried out bi-annually.
- Trust increase of 8% was based on May 2024 results analysed using the Adoreboard platform.
- EQ Banks satisfaction surveys collect data from a range of channels including Website Engagement, Mobile Engagement, Onboarding Satisfaction
Research on Artificial Intelligence
- A total of 507 people were surveyed Q1/2024 across Canada based on a random sample using Onepulse, an online market research firm. The demographic surveyed included 45% males, 55% females.
- Questions asked in the survey were: 1. In 2024, do you expect to use your mobile phone or apps to make more purchases? (60.36% yes/ 39.64% no) 2. Would you consider switching Banks if you had a poor digital experience? (65.29% yes/ 34.71% no) 3. Do you think you will use AI in 2024 to help improve how you manage your personal finances or spending? (51.68% yes/ 48.32% no).
